"We are reflective of society and we do recruit across all across society," Rear Adm. Gilles Couturier, the Pacific Navy commander, told the CBC. "If we don't adapt, we won't have any sailors joining."

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Canada for more than a decade, and restrictions on military service for gays and lesbians have openly served were lifted in 1992. (For some context, the U.S. ended its "don't ask, don't tell" policy in 2010.)

U.S. Navy petty officers Marissa Gaeta and Citlalic Snell are believed to be the first U.S. navy members to engage in a same-sex dockside kiss since the ban was lifted, in 2011.